Afterword

This is my personal, on-going cry against the awful silence which envelopes us today.

This is my way of not remaining silent, by saying, "No," to the Lebanon War and its crimes, and ,"No," to the acts committed in the occupied territories in the name of country. This is my way of trying to show that I do identify with my country, the State of Israel; that the act of living in Israel does not mean, in and of itself, that I accept the situation here as it exists today.

I am unwilling to have the price this war exacted be forgotten; nor shall I let Yaron be forgotten, nor all those others who were killed or wounded; not the horrible suffering caused to tens of thousands of people, Jews and Arabs alike, nor the culpability of the leaders of both sides who led us into this war.

I don't want any other member of my family, or of any other family, to be killed or wounded in war.

I hope that the book's publication itself will demonstrate that we may not raise our hands in despair nor may we give up trying to persuade others to help prevent humanity from producing further suffering. I hope that my testimony will help provide a better, more profound understanding of the annals of the only nation we can call our own. Finally, I hope my book will help others cope with their personal loss.

In the past few years, I have established many contacts and rigorously gathered my material. This would not have been possible without the completely supportive atmosphere which I encountered in all my dealings everywhere, including my kibbutz, Ein-Dor, a community grounded to this very day on the values of equality, brotherhood, freedom, and mutual responsibility, values without which I could not have come this far.

And maybe my words shall express the sentiments of many others who think and feel as I do, but who find it more difficult to speak out publicly.

It is my wish that this book may contribute to a better understanding of all
that we have been through in the years since the Lebanon War, and to a more solid comprehension of t
he degree of our responsibility for all that has occurred, is still occurring, and most of all for
all that is likely or liable to occur in the future.